1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic device, a display device, an interface circuit and a differential amplification device, which are constituted by using thin-film transistors that are formed on insulating substrates.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a display device of, e.g. OA equipment, which displays image information and character information, there is known an active-matrix flat-panel display which uses thin-film transistors (TFTs). In recent years, with the development of multi-media communication technology, attention has been paid to an integrated-function type display as a next-generation display, which is called a “system-on-panel” display. This integrated-function type display is designed for personal use, has a small size and light weight, and has a high resolution and a high image quality. Moreover, peripheral functions relating to image display, such as driver circuits, memory circuits, DA converters and image processing circuits, are integrated on a display panel. As an example of the integrated-function type display, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2005-18088 discloses a liquid crystal display device having an input function using light from, e.g. a light pen, by providing photoelectric conversion elements in individual pixels.
If the resolution and the number of colors of a display image on a display device increase, the amount of data to be transmitted increases accordingly. However, since the refresh speed of image display is fixed, the clock frequency of a transmission path needs to be increased if the amount of data increases. In this way, if the frequency of the transmission path increases, such a problem arises that unwanted electromagnetic radiation occurs from the transmission path and noise is caused in an external device due to electromagnetic interference (EMI). To solve this problem, a method is adopted in which EMI is reduced by low-voltage differential driving, which is known as, e.g. LVDS (Low Voltage Differential Signaling). An example of this technique is disclosed in, e.g. Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-176350. In addition, in recent years, as a transmission scheme that is capable of more effectively reducing EMI, there has been proposed a serial interface by current driving. One example is disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2003-76345.
Conventionally, MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) transistors, which fall in a category of field-effect transistors, are mainly used as TFTs which are formed on a display glass substrate. The MOS transistors are widely used since the MOS transistors can advantageously constitute digital circuits such as display pixel switches and shift registers of displays.
Examples of patent documents are Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2005-18088, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-176350, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2003-76345 and Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 10-32337.
Examples of technical documents are (1) B. Y. TSAUR, MEMBER, IEEE, D. J. SILVERSMITH, SENIOR MEMBER, IEEE, J. C. C. FAN, AND R. W. MOUNTAIN; “Fully Isolated Lateral Bipolar-MOS Transistors Fabricated in Zone-Melting-Recrystallized Si Films on SiO2”, IEEE ELECTRON DEVICE LETTERS, VOL, EDL-4, NO. 8, pp. 269-271, AUGUST 1983; (2) JAMES C. STURM, MEMBER, IEEE, JAMES P. McVITTIE, MEMBER, IEEE, JAMES F. GIBBONS, FELLOW, IEEE AND L. PFIFFER, “A Lateral Silicon-on-Insulator Bipolar Transistor with a Self-Aligned Base Contact”, 0741-3106/87/0300-0104$01.00 (c) 1987 IEEE; (3) Stephen Parke, Fariborz Assaderaghi Jian Chen, Joe King, Chenming Hu, and Ping K. Ko, “A Versatile, SOI BiCMOS Technology with Complementary Lateral BJT's”, 0-7803-0817-4/92$3.00 (c) IEDM92 453-456 1992 IEEE; (4) T. Shino, K. Inoh, T. Yamada, H. Nii, S. Kawanaka, T. Fuse, M. Yoshimi, Y. Katsumata, S. Watanabe, and J. Matsunaga, “A 31 GHz fmax Lateral BJT on SOI Using Self-Aligned External Base Formation Technology”; 0-7803-4774-9/98$10.00(c) IERM 98 953-956 1998 IEEE; (5) Richard McCartney, Jsmes Kozisek, Marshall Bell, “9.3: WhisperBus™: An Advanced Interconnect Link For TFT Column Driver Data”, SID 01 DIGEST, pp. 1-4; (6) Jorgen Olsson, Bengt Edholm, Anders Soderbiirg, and Kjell Bohlin, “High Current Gain Hybrid Bipolar Operation of DMOS Transistors”, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, VOL. 42, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER, pp. 1628-1635, 1995; (7) Stephen A. Parke, Chenming Hu, and Ping K. KO, “Bipolar-FET Hybrid-Mode Operation of Quarter-Microm; and (8) Sophie Verdonckt-Vandebroek, S. Simon Wong, Jason C. S. Woo, and Ping K. KO, “High-Gain Lateral Bipolar Action in a MOSFET Structure,” IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, VOL. 38, NO. 11, NOVEMBER, pp. 2487-2496, 1991.